Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Fifteen: Neogenic Nightmare, Chapter 2 - Battle of the Insidious Six

Battle of the Insidious Six

First Aired: September 16th, 1995

Synopsis: Spider-Man is running away from the Insidious Six in a warehouse, unsure how to defeat them since his powers are still missing. At one point a crate of Mysterio's tech is knocked over, briefly creating a big hologram of the jungle. Eventually Spider-Man is captured and unmasked, but since he put up so little of a fight the villains think that Peter impersonated Spider-Man to save Aunt May. Doctor Octopus uses Peter to get rid of Aunt May, who thinks he's in hospital, then forces him to take them to the real Spider-Man. Before they leave the warehouse Peter's able to take some of Mysterio's tech. The rest of the Insidious Six, meanwhile, go to Silvermane's headquarters and capture him, since otherwise he'll have Kingpin killed since he hasn't defeated Spider-Man. They meet with Doctor Octopus and Peter on a skyscraper roof that he's claimed is where he'll meet Spider-Man.


Peter uses Mysterio's technology to distract the Six, but he's knocked off the roof by Shocker. As he's falling he finds his powers have started to return, so he's able to change to Spider-Man in mid-air and return to the building. Meanwhile, Kingpin is dangling Silvermane out of a helicopter nearby, and Spider-Man saves him, not realising that he's a crime lord. Wit his powers still in flux Spider-Man can't afford a fight, and so he tricks Rhino into attacking Chameleon and Shocker. He later manages to goad Scorpion and Doctor Octopus into fighting, leaving him to get away with Silvermane, who later declares that Kingpin must be defeated. The Insidious Six are told to try again by Kingpin, but as they haven't gotten anything out of it they quit. In the aftermath, Peter goes to see Felicia to apologise for missing their date but finds out that she's having dinner with Michael. However, when he returns home Mary Jane is there and being flirty. Later still, he goes to see Doctor Connors, happy that his powers have fully returned, but Connors reveals that Spider-Man's blood is still mutating, and that he might not stay human.

Places That Spider-Man Will Chase Shocker To:

• A water tower, which shorts out his suit and makes it explode because of the damage it took from Rhino.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• This episode is loosely based on Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, as with last episode, but the bit of the villain(s) thinking that Peter must have faked being Spider-Man is right out of Amazing Spider-Man #12. 
• Chameleon, disguised as Silvermane, meets with a thug and tells him to call off the attack on Kingpin after they capture the real Silvermane. It's hard to tell because of the lighting and his hat covering most of his hair, but I'm fairly certain that it's supposed to be Turk Barrett.
• When Shocker's suit blows up, we see him flying out of the water tower wearing nothing but his mask and undies. I'm really really curious about why we haven't seen his face yet now - it'd be a weird twist but I hope it turns out that he's someone we know.

Review: I know I said that last episode was the best of the series so far, but honestly, I think this manages to top it. I was expecting things to go down like in Annual #1, with Spidey's powers coming back once the fighting gets going, but having Spider-Man be unmasked is a much, much better direction to go in. When they finally do come back, it feels deserved, because we've had Peter deal with the Insidious Six for a while without his powers, and even then they're fluctuating. The final scene even manages to justify what was happening and set it up as a subplot for future episodes. It's all great stuff.

Other than that, I also loved Silvermane completely pulling the wool over Spider-Man's eyes. Spidey not knowing who Silvermane is, just as he doesn't know who the Kingpin is, feels completely natural, and it's a brilliant move by Silvermane to exploit that. It also changes the nature of the fight with the Insidious Six from what could be a free-for-all into an escort mission, which further justifies him not being willing to risk fighting them.

The only complaint I have is that the Six disbanding at the end feels more like it's being done because the show doesn't want to deal with them any more than because they have a solid reason to. The Six know that they easily defeated Spider-Man when they fought him, and they know that they can get him to appear again by kidnapping Aunt May. But we can't have them ready to do that out of nowhere, so they have to cut ties with the Kingpin. It's a little awkward, but it's one small flaw in an otherwise fantastic episode.